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Fascination in Julio Cortázar's "Axolotl"
- Partial Answers: Journal of Literature and the History of Ideas
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 17, Number 1, January 2019
- pp. 49-63
- 10.1353/pan.2019.0002
- Article
- Additional Information
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Abstract:
Julio Cortázar's short story "Axolotl" is a literary analysis of fascination. Situating the story in the history of fascination, the article highlights how it repeats well-known themes from this history. Cortázar's short story also shows how authors have been able to use fascination as a productive force. I argue that Cortázar's fascination is intimately connected to temporality, especially the time structure associated with reminders. As such, the fascinating story of a man's obsession with an axolotl suggests that fascination became a major aspect of cultural reproduction and reconfiguration during the 20th century.